Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II

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Clash On The Dunes
Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II.jpeg
DateDecember 7, 2019
VenueDiriyah Arena, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia
Title(s) on the lineUnified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles
Tale of the tape
Boxer United States Andy Ruiz Jr. United Kingdom Anthony Joshua
Nickname "Destroyer" "AJ"
Hometown Imperial, California, U.S. Watford, England
Pre-fight record 33–1 (22 KOs) 22–1 (21 KOs)
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight 284 lb (129 kg) 237 lb (108 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition Unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight champion WBA
No. 4 ranked heavyweight
IBF
No. 5 ranked heavyweight
WBO
No. 4 ranked heavyweight
Result
Joshua wins by unanimous decision
(118–110, 118–110, 119–109)

Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II, billed as Clash On The Dunes, was a heavyweight professional boxing rematch between the Mexican-American champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and British former champion Anthony Joshua, for the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight world titles. The event took place on December 7, 2019 at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Al-Turaif, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Joshua won the bout via unanimous decision.[1][2] The bout between Ruiz and Joshua was refereed by Luis Pabon.[3]

Background[]

After losing by seventh-round technical knockout to Andy Ruiz Jr. on June 1, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York City in one of the biggest upsets in the history of boxing,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Joshua stated in a post-fight interview that he and his team certainly expect to exercise the rematch clause with Ruiz. Four days after the fight took place, Joshua's promoter and group managing director of Matchroom Sport Eddie Hearn announced on social media platforms that Joshua's management team triggered the contractual rematch clause with Ruiz

Saudi Arabian authorities reportedly paid £30 million ($38.29 million) to host the event in Saudi Arabia.[12]

International broadcasters[]

The fight was streamed live on Fight Sports MAX in MENA region (Saudi Arabia as host), DAZN in the United States and seven other countries, and televised live on PPV's Sky Sports Box Office in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[13][14][15]

Country/Region Broadcasters
Free-to-air Cable/Pay television PPV Stream
 MENA N/A Fight Sports MAX
 United States N/A DAZN
 Austria
 Brazil
 Canada
 Germany
 Italy
 Spain
  Switzerland
 Mexico Azteca 7 N/A Azteca En Vivo
Latin America N/A ESPN[16] N/A WatchESPN
 United Kingdom N/A Sky Sports Box Office
 Ireland
 Australia[17] N/A Main Event N/A
Balkan countries N/A Arena Sport Orion TV (SRB only)
Max TV Go (exclude SRB)
 Croatia[18] RTL
N/A RTL Play
Baltic countries N/A TVPlay Sports[19] N/A TVPlay Sports+
 Belgium N/A Eleven Sports[20] N/A Eleven Sports
 Portugal
 Taiwan
 Luxembourg
RTL 7 RTL XL
 Netherlands[21] N/A
 Brunei N/A Astro Box Office Astro Go
 Malaysia
 Bulgaria[22] N/A Diema Sport N/A Diema Play Extra
 China CCTV N/A CNTV
 Czech Republic N/A Sport1 N/A Digi GO
 Hungary
 Slovakia
 France[23] N/A RMC Sport N/A RMC Sport
 Indonesia Mola TV[24] N/A Mola TV On Demand
 Timor-Leste
 Israel N/A Sport 1 N/A Sport 1
 Japan[25] N/A Wowow N/A Wowow
 New Zealand N/A Sky Arena N/A
Nordic countries N/A Viaplay[26]
 Mexico Azteca 7 N/A Azteca En Vivo
 Panama[27] RPC-TV N/A Medcom Go
 Philippines Tap Sports N/A Tap Go
 Poland[28] TVP Sport N/A TVP Stream
 Romania[29] Pro TV N/A Pro TV Plus
Voyo
 Russia[30] Channel One N/A Channel One
 South Africa OpenView N/A
 Tajikistan TV Varzish N/A Mediabay
 Uzbekistan[31] Sport
 Turkey[32] N/A SSport+
 Ukraine[33] Inter N/A Inter

Fight card[]

Weight Class Weight vs. Method Round Time Notes
Heavyweight +90 kg. United Kingdom Anthony Joshua def. United States Andy Ruiz Jr. (c) UD 12 Note 1
Heavyweight +90 kg. Russia Alexander Povetkin vs. United States Michael Hunter SD 12
Heavyweight +90 kg. United Kingdom Dillian Whyte def. Poland Mariusz Wach UD 10
Heavyweight +90 kg. Croatia Filip Hrgović (c) def. United States Éric Molina KO 3 (12) 2:03 Note 2
Heavyweight +90 kg. Azerbaijan Mahammadrasul Majidov def. United Kingdom Tom Little TKO 2 (8) 1:49
Lightweight -61.2 kg. Saudi Arabia Zuhayr Al Qahtani def. United Kingdom Omar Dusary UD 8
Super middleweight -76.2 kg. United States Diego Pacheco def. Tanzania Selemani Saidi KO 1 (4) 1:38
Featherweight -57 kg. United Kingdom Hopey Price def. Tanzania Swedi Mohamed TKO 3 (4) 2:22
Lightweight -61.2 kg. United Arab Emirates Majid Al Naqbi def. Georgia (country) Ilia Beruashvili TKO 3 (4)

^Note 1 For Unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles [34]

^Note 2 For WBC International heavyweight title

Viewership[]

On Sky Sports Box Office, the fight reportedly broke the all-time UK pay-per-view (PPV) record, according to Eddie Hearn (who said he was told by Sky Sports). The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) revealed that Sky Sports Box Office generated 1.284 million buys on fight night, and a further 291,000 buys over the following two weeks,[35] totaling 1.575 million buys in the UK.[36]

On DAZN, the fight was the most streamed event of 2019.[37] It was watched live by approximately 1.8 million DAZN subscribers across nine markets, according to The Athletic boxing journalist Mike Coppinger, who also said the fight drew 200,000 new subscribers, with most from the United States.[38]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Domin, Martin (August 9, 2019). "Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr rematch date and venue confirmed". mirror.
  2. ^ "Saudi Arabia to stage Anthony Joshua v Andy Ruiz Jr world heavyweight fight". Arab News. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  3. ^ https://www.express.co.uk/sport/boxing/1214250/Andy-Ruiz-Anthony-Joshua-2-referee-Luis-Pabon-judges-names-Eddie-Hearn. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  4. ^ "Anthony Joshua sensationally beaten by Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden". 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  5. ^ "Report: Anthony Joshua 'Hurt Badly' in Sparring Before Andy Ruiz Jr. Knockout". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  6. ^ Domin, Martin (2019-11-28). "Andy Ruiz Jr identifies moment he knew he could beat Anthony Joshua". mirror. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  7. ^ "What happened to Anthony Joshua, and what did we learn from Andy Ruiz Jr.'s big upset?". ESPN.com. 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  8. ^ "Joshua vs Ruiz Jr: Anthony Joshua beaten by Andy Ruiz Jr in stunning New York shock". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  9. ^ Garden, Bryan Armen Graham at Madison Square; York, New (2019-06-02). "Andy Ruiz Jr shocks world with knockout of Anthony Joshua for heavyweight championship". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  10. ^ "Anthony Joshua urged to sack trainer after shock defeat to Andy Ruiz: 'You can't go to uni with third grade teacher'". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  11. ^ "Andy Ruiz Jr lifts lid on WWE offer after Tyson Fury debut ahead of Anthony Joshua rematch | Boxing | Sport | Express.co.uk". www.express.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  12. ^ "Joshua doubles his net worth to over £100m after beating Ruiz in rematch". TalkSPORT. Wireless Group. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua rematch to take place in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 7 | DAZN News US". DAZN. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
  14. ^ "Ruiz Jr vs Joshua 2: Anthony Joshua-Andy Ruiz Jr rematch to have neutral location and officials". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
  15. ^ "Fight Sports launches SVOD service in Mena ahead of Joshua-Ruiz". SportBusiness. 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  16. ^ "Andy Ruiz vs Anthony Joshua 2 por ESPN KnockOut". ESPN (in Spanish). 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  17. ^ "Ruiz v Joshua 2 | MAIN EVENT". Main Event. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
  18. ^ Goda, Ines. "Boks: Ruiz vs. Joshua, Hrgović vs. Molina, subota, 7. prosinca na RTL-u". RTL (in Croatian). Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  19. ^ "TVPlay Sports Eesti on Instagram: "